Does anyone remember the Sears Christmas Wish Book? It hadn’t crossed my mind in years until last night. As I was watching a Christmas movie, I saw an advertisement for Toys R Us and as grandmothers do at this time of year, I paid attention. I spent some time with my granddaughter recently and she was showing me her collection of Shopkins and telling me that I could get them at Toys R Us. They are miniature versions of items you would buy in a grocery store and they come in little shopping baskets. She likes to collect them and believe you me, she knows if “cupcake queen” or “toof the toothbrush” is missing.

So, the commercial caught my attention because I wondered if Shopkins might be on sale. I didn’t see anything about the little grocery toys, but I did notice a nice big, shiny toy catalog in the ad.

This took me back in time to the late 60s and early 70s when the arrival of the Wish Book was a big deal in our house. We picked it up at the post office and tore the brown paper off with excitement. By the time Christmas rolled around, it had given us hours of perusing and wishing and hoping, and it was missing pages, and tattered and torn. We would lie on the floor on our tummies, on the rusty orange shag carpet and hover around it circling things. We would put big bold stars on the really important stuff so that Mom would get the hint. Our cousins would visit and we would drag it out and explore once again with them.

My brother and sister were huge fans of the Johnny West action figures so those got circled, I’m sure. They amassed quite the collection; there was Johnny West and his trusty horse, Thunderbolt, Jane West and Flame, Josie West, General Custer, and Geronimo. The horses came with saddles, canteens and blankets and the action figures came with camping equipment and vests, kerchiefs, hats and all sorts of changeable western gear. They would play with them for hours and I am sure Mom thought she got her money’s worth.

I don’t quite remember when I lost interest in the catalog, but I suspect it’s when we started going to the mall more often. Instead of wishing and dreaming, everything was right before my eyes, and I could touch it and test it.

When I reminisce though, I am thankful for those times snuggled close to my sister and brother, even if we did argue about who saw it first and who was really old enough to have it. I am thankful our wish list came from a book with real pages that we could turn together. The Amazon Wish List is great and I used it last year for one of my daughters gifts, but I would have much rather snuggled up with her on the couch and looked through the Wish Book together, circling and making big bold stars.